18th Century Pigment to Revolutionize Chip Design? 100
Scarlet X writes "Researchers at the University of Washington have discovered a possible nonvolatile magnetic semiconductor and are investigating its use for 'spintronics,' an emerging technology that is concerned with manipulating and controlling the charge, flow and magnetism of electrons. The possibilities for the material 'cobalt green,' a paint developed by American Revolution era artists, as a spintronics material is exciting. Should the magnetic properties of the paint at room-temperature prove able to reliably control the wild spinning of excited electrons in a processor, not only could the size of processors reduce substantially, but the constant limiting factor, how to keep things cool, could disappear."
Room temperature != operational temperature. (Score:5, Insightful)
If energy is expended, then the temperature of the component will rise. If the temperature rises, it'll be likely to require cooling. (Especially as more energy gets expended with designs capable of higher computation loads.)
Re:Room temperature != operational temperature. (Score:4, Interesting)
Can we now paint our own CPUs? (Score:1)
Re:Can we now paint our own CPUs? (Score:3, Informative)
Someone like Chinese micro-painter Jin Yin Hua [bbc.co.uk] who has painted an image of a giant panda on a single human hair could really do it justice.
However for simpler curcuits it could be good to do.
I personally would prefer to put this ink into an inkjet printer and get better results.
Re:Can we now paint our own CPUs? (Score:2)
Re:Room temperature != operational temperature. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Room temperature != operational temperature. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Room temperature != operational temperature. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Room temperature != operational temperature. (Score:1)
Re:Room temperature != operational temperature. (Score:2)
Work equals the force applied times the distance the object moved in that direction. If your force changes then you can very well end up with everything where it started yet you've done work.
Re:Room temperature != operational temperature. (Score:4, Informative)
violation of high school science. (Score:1)
The second law of thermodynamics states "There is no process that, operating in cycle, produces no other effect than the subtraction of a positive amount of heat from a reservoir and the production of an equal amount of work." (copied from wikipedia ahref=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_thermod ynamicsrel=url2html-29159 [slashdot.org]http://en.wikipedia.org/w iki/Laws_of_thermodynamics>
F
Re:violation of high school science. (Score:1)
Re:violation of high school science. (Score:1)
absolete zero == no process (Score:1)
Re:Room temperature != operational temperature. (Score:1)
Completely and utterly. Basically, most energy that is used in most processes, ends up as heat. The difference being that you would use up more energy in the less efficient process for your needs, than in the more efficient one. But even the energy that goes into the desired process enentually ends up as heat.
You're example with the light bulb is the same. Say you want so many lux from a regular light bulb, you need a certain amount of energy. If you want the same light from an LED
Re:Room temperature != operational temperature. (Score:1)
Re:Room temperature != operational temperature. (Score:1)
Re:Room temperature != operational temperature. (Score:5, Insightful)
Spintronics is just another tech that might be better than classic electronics. It might end up filling a niche or perhaps a larger part of what is currently done with electronics. But noone (except the people from marketing) is going to garantee that this will be the next revolution.
Re:Room temperature != operational temperature. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Room temperature != operational temperature. (Score:4, Informative)
Unfortunately, during the transistion there are nanoseconds where it is in the partially conducting state. Both the current and voltage are at intermediate values, and the power dissipation rises. The more often they switch, the more often these losses occur, which is why CPU heat is dependant on the operating frequency.
Spintronics may use a fundamentally differnt signalling mechanism which doesnt involve these transition losses.
Re:Room temperature != operational temperature. (Score:1)
Re:Room temperature != operational temperature. (Score:3, Informative)
C stands for complemtary - originally used to describe a PNP and NPN on the output of an amplifier (the output sections of logic devices are indeed amplifiers).
The problem is that, as the inputs are transitioning between high and low voltages, BOTH transistor networks are (partially) conductive. This allows current to flow directly from the high-voltage rail to the low-voltage rail, with minimal resistance.
Normally called c
Re:Room temperature != operational temperature. (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/rd/176/ibmrd17 06G.pdf [ibm.com]
This idea is over 40 years old and is well understood science. This is not science fiction and many of the technical aspects of how to engineer a system like this have bee
Re:Room temperature != operational temperature. (Score:1)
I think you misunderstood the meaning of the statement 'the need to keep things cool'. Or, at least, I'll assume Scarlet X knew what he was talking about. Currently most 'spintronics' in the R&D lab need to be cryogenically cooled (like superconductors). Thus, their off-state temperature needs to be dropped way low (think liquid nitrogen or less), so that when operating their total temp range stays within the regime where the proper properties exist. By room temperature, it would mean no supercooled
Prior Art? (Score:5, Funny)
In this case it wouldn't apply, but given the subject mateer it had to be said.
Re:Prior Art? (Score:2)
Cobalt green availability (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Cobalt green availability (Score:5, Informative)
The world is unhealthy... (Score:2)
Re:The world is unhealthy... (Score:2)
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
What's next? Low hydrogen water? Or maybe fat-free bacon? (actually I think that they already have that--bacon is fat!)
This world is for no good.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:The world is unhealthy... (Score:1)
Disclaimer: I've only eaten turkey "bacon" in the past month.
Re: (Score:2)
Curing and smoking bacon isn't difficult... (Score:2)
If you want to smoke it after curing it, once again, you don't need a lot of space - you can make a simple smoker out of old charcoal grille (Weber or similar round grill) and a (get
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Curing and smoking bacon isn't difficult... (Score:2)
I agree with you on the cold smoke, but it is more difficult to "roll your own" smoker for that. It can be done similar to the method I described, but you would separate out the smoke generator from the smoking container with some corrugated metal duc
I think you're right... (Score:2)
Your bacon (and Canadian/back bacon) is just a slice of ham.
Honestly, it can't hold a candle to American bacon. Back bacon is barely as tasty as a regular slice of ham, and American bacon is far more tasty.
As to American bacon being horrendeously fattening, well, fattening is a function of calories. If your food has calories in it, it's fattening too. And if american bacon has more calories than your bacon, perhaps you could eat a smaller portion.
Re: (Score:2)
hmm.. Interesting thesis.. (Score:2)
As an additional note, I think it's quite possible that your equivalence between streaky bacon and American bacon might be flawed. I have had what I though was American bacon outside the US before and disliked it. I wonder now if I really had streaky bacon instead.
The reason I didn't l
Re:The world is unhealthy... (Score:2)
Re:The world is unhealthy... (Score:2)
But, my point remains: why would i want low-fat "American Bacon"? That is an object that really does contain more fat than meat.
As I recall, however, when I was in Portugal, the bacon there was more like what I got here than what you describe coming from England. Of course, "Canadian" Bacon has its place, and is very tasty in its own right.
Re:The world is unhealthy... (Score:2)
From Oak-Ridge National Labs, (htt [orau.org]
Re:The world is unhealthy... (Score:2)
As for low-hydogren water, you can get that by adding a little baking soda or similar to normal water. Another candidate might be peroxide, H2O2.
Re:The world is unhealthy... (Score:2)
Re:The world is unhealthy... (Score:2)
As for other salts than table salt--maybe. I've had some 'low-sodium' salts that were just plain nasty. Others, I'm sure, are much tastier. In order for salt to do what I want, it has to have the right flavor. I cook a fair bit, so I don't mind the artisian salts that are available--they mostly have a neat flavor, but I won't touch a salt that doesn't taste good.
Re:The world is unhealthy... (Score:2)
Not really-- according to Wikipedia, the FDA has approved low concentrations of H2O2 as being "food grade" safe, and it can be found in mouthwash and so forth. You wouldn't want to drink a lot of it or at full strength concentration because it is a bleaching agent & oxidizer.
> As for other salts than table salt--maybe. I've had some 'low-sodium' salts that were just plain nasty.
Agreed, I'd rather use a small amount of real salt rather than a larger amount
Re:The world is unhealthy... (Score:2)
Re:Cobalt green availability (Score:1)
arsine (Score:2)
I guess ... (Score:2, Funny)
Damn... (Score:3, Funny)
I guess I'll have to buy a heater...
Re: (Score:1)
room temperature, rather than dunked in liquid He (Score:2)
Spintronics (Score:5, Informative)
This research has been going on for a long time - you may have heard of it here [slashdot.org] and it's likely going to take a while before we see it since it still needs to be perfected and then economical and make its way into industry. As far as I can tell by reading the UWNews article, all they did was discover that an old pigment can work. Not that it isn't cool, but it's not really likely to advance science significantly, especially because a previous article in PRL [google.com] which was published in 2004 mentions this effect.
American Era artists? (Score:3, Informative)
Shameless copy from wikipedia [wikipedia.org]:
While the timeframe is correct, the sentence in the posting (to me) suggests it's an american invention...
Sorry for the slightly off-topic, non-american-centric post. Now please continue enjoying your duplicates^H^H^H^H^Hexiting new stories and comments ;).
Re:American Era artists? (Score:1)
They were at war with Britain, yes, but they were not terrorists.
FWIW, I'm Canadian with British and American grandparents, so I've no axe to grind here.
Re:American Era artists? (Score:2)
To the standards of the time they used quite a few dishonorable techniques. They shot from cover, ambushed, kidnapped. Darn Yanks wouldn't stand up and fight on on the field of battle (consistently). Also they quite frequently didn't dress in uniform. Farmers are like that.
Re:American Era artists? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:American Era artists? (Score:1)
Article clearly by a non-tech (Score:3, Insightful)
Lesson to all journalists: if you don't know enough to say anything on a subject, don't try to say anything yourself - just report what other people say and you'll be fine. Try to add your own tag-lines, and you'll end up saying something stupid like this.
Grab.
Re:Article clearly by a non-tech (Score:2)
manipulate and/or control the charge? (Score:1)
Re:manipulate and/or control the charge? (Score:2)
Cobalt green is ... (Score:5, Funny)
Next thing they'll be breeding us like cattle for electronics.
"Spintronics" (Score:2)
Maybe the pigment was left behind by ... (Score:3, Funny)
...them [wikipedia.org].
Can I have a hurrah for these [wikipedia.org]?
Cobalt Green was not developed by artists (Score:2, Informative)
The preparation of zinc oxide at the end of the eighteenth century made the development of cobalt green, also known as zinc green, possible.
The Swedish chemist, Rinmann is credited with developing a process for making a compound of cobalt and zinc in 1780 that he published with the Stockholm Academy of Sciences. Arthur Herbert Church published Rinmann's process in his book, The Chemistry of Paints and Painting. According to Church, cobalt green was made with the co
The Joy of Spintronics (Score:5, Funny)
Goodnight Bob Ross, wherever you are!
Re:The Joy of Spintronics (Score:1)
Re:The Joy of Spintronics (Score:1)
Re:The Joy of Spintronics (Score:1)
We don't make mistakes, just happy little accidents...
What is it with oldschool pigments... (Score:1)
Not Excited Yet (Score:2)
Great but... (Score:3, Funny)
Secrets of Ancient Art revealed... (Score:1)
Transportation possibility? (Score:2)